Restitution and Guilty Plea in Two Lab Fraud Cases

By Robert Michel | From the Volume XXVIII No. 5 – April 12, 2021 Issue

CEO SUMMARY: In one case, owners and a sales rep agreed to pay restitution totaling almost $10 million. In the second case, three defendants pled guilty to federal charges involving payment or receipt of kickbacks and illegal inducements. A fourth defendent in this second case, a ph…

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April 12, 2021 Intelligence: Late-Breaking Lab News

By Robert Michel | From the Volume XXVIII No. 5 – April 12, 2021 Issue

One clinical laboratory company now says it provides COVID-19 testing services to all five of the major men’s professional sports leagues in the United States. On April 1, BioReference Laboratories, Inc. (BRLI), a division of Opko Health, announced a new agreement with Major League…

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Despite COVID-19, Regular Lab Testing Expands

By R. Lewis Dark | From the Volume XXVIII, No. 4 – March 22, 2021 Issue

TIMES ARE GOOD FOR THE REGULAR RANGE of clinical laboratory and anatomic pathology testing services. Despite the COVID-19 pandemic, the daily number of routine test specimens is near pre-pandemic levels and certain sectors of lab testing—particularly genetic tests and some high-cost assays—are sh…

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What Comes Next? Predictions on COVID-19 Test Volumes in 2021-22

By Robert Michel | From the Volume XXVIII, No. 4 – March 22, 2021 Issue

CEO SUMMARY: Incoming data show that the number of referrals for both COVID-19 tests and routine tests is in a decline that started in October and is continuing. This complicates the strategic planning for hospital/health system labs, independent labs, and pathology groups. They nee…

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Academic, Commercial Collaboration for Testing

By Robert Michel | From the Volume XXVIII, No. 2 – February 8, 2021 Issue

CEO SUMMARY: In several important ways, this collaboration involving an academic clinical laboratory and a commercial company has paid big dividends, not just for the two partners, but also the parent university that oversaw the project. The two partners developed a SARS-CoV-2 test, t…

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Two-Drop ‘Digital CBC’ Enters U.S. Market with FDA Clearance

By Robert Michel | From the Volume XXVIII, No. 1 – January 19, 2021 Issue

“We believe the ability to work with just two drops of blood, plus the…

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UK Postpones Mass COVID Testing Plan Due to Questions of Accuracy

By Robert Michel | From the Volume XXVII, No. 18 – December 28, 2020 Issue

IN THE UNITED KINGDOM, A MASS COVID-19 TESTING PLAN called “Operation Moonshot” is on hold until at least the end of January. Under the plan, health ministers sought to increase daily SARS-CoV-2 testing from 430,000 to 10 million Englanders per day.  …

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OIG Says Medicare Spending On Testing Increased in 2019

By Robert Michel | From the Volume XXVII, No. 18 – December 28, 2020 Issue

CEO SUMMARY: Newly-released data indicates that Medicare officials are falling far short of their goal to decrease the total amount of money spent annually on Part B clinical laboratory tests. That is one finding by the federal Office of the Inspector General in its report of Medica…

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One Genetic Test CPT Code Earns ‘Fraudomatic’ Title

By Robert Michel | From the Volume XXVII, No. 17 – December 7, 2020 Issue

CEO SUMMARY: Several genetic testing companies have noticed that some of the nation’s Medicare Administrative Contractors (MAC) pay about $2,000 for test claims billed with CPT code 81408. From 2018 through and 2019, the number of 81408 claims rose dramatically at just two of thes…

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Memphis Path Lab Pivots to COVID, Pooled Testing

By Robert Michel | From the Volume XXVII, No. 17 – December 7, 2020 Issue

CEO SUMMARY: When routine testing volume declined sharply last winter and spring, one of the nation’s largest anatomic pathology groups added testing for COVID-19 and boosted revenue significantly. Since then, the laboratory has become the first in the nation to gain an Emergency …

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